Saturday, May 24, 2014

The President Tree

See the tiny guy at the bottom

That is the name of a giant Sequoia in the National Park in the USA. It is believed to be 3,200 or so which I would believe. Dating seems to go haywire for anything prior to the great flood about 4,400 years ago, probably due to an unknown amount of fluctuation in carbon in the atmosphere. However, sorry I digress.

By volume of the trunk, it is the third biggest tree in the world, and stands 247 feet tall. It was named after US president Harding in 1923. I don't think I have any trees named after me.

The thing is it has not been photographed in its totality in one photo...until now. A team of National Geographic photographers have worked with scientists to do just that. Using pulleys and levers and taking thousands of snaps, they put together the picture you see here. An amazing photo. Imagine planting a seed of a Sequoia and then outliving it. That would be more amazing.